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Pokemon Game Ideas and Wishlists - Yes We Can!

::Main Game Series: Ideas, Suggestions and Wishlists::

I'm sure everyone has opinions about certain aspects of the main Pokemon game series which they believe can be improved, should be changed, and would be popular with everyone else, if ever so slightly. So I thought we could come up with a list that the majority may agree or is neutral about.

This is of course, based on personal opinions, so no hard feelings if no one agrees with you or me. Active debate and discussion is encouraged. And of course, some of the opinions may seem impossible to happen, but we can always keep it within this thread for the fun of it. Who knows, this might catch the eye of a staff from Game Freak?

Do explain if you're actually fully against the idea, OR merely justifying the way the things is right now in hindsight. And in the case of the latter, it really doesn't contribute to this thread. Imagine pre-gen V period, and someone suggested that TMs should be multi-use. It's always easy to justify why TMs isn't multi-use (too easy, overpowered etc) at that time, but moral of the story is that no idea remains unchanged given the test of time, if it's popular/acceptable by the majority.

I'm currently adding a list of non-supporters as a mean of deciding whether to banish an idea. You can post or PM me to have your name added or removed at any time

I think the game would be a little better if...:

Every trainer, including Gym Leaders, should be re-matchable (and kept that way for every single darn gen)
The phone in HGSS, PokeNav in RSE or the VS Seeker FRLG/DPPt, all share the similar function of allowing rematches, but each has its pros and cons. In essence, rematches should be allowed for every NPC trainer, without the need to always actively seek for them all the time (PokeNav), or the need to charge (VS seeker), or irritate the user (phone). Having both PokeNav and Phone function in the same game would be awesome. In the case of the phone function though, you should be able to choose to off it completely or block individual contacts, since you might want certain trainers to contact you (to give items), but not others (who sprout nonsense). Rematches from phone can give an extra small reward for winning, such as berries, pokeballs, and an occasional vitamin.

Player customisation (suggested by The Wallflower)
Considering that Game Freaks attempted to introduce customisable Pokemon, a customisable trainer sprite seems easier to implement. Moreover, it serves a more significant role in terms of online play. Who wants to see the same old male/female trainer sprite over and over again? Even a colour swap would be considered an improvement over nothing.

Nature wasn't linked to stats alteration, but merely descriptive.
I'm supportive of the +10%/-10% stats alteration game mechanics, but I like my Pokemon's nature to be naturally obtained, instead of adhering to that same few natures in order for my favourite Pokemon "to be the best like no one ever was, ever was, ever was..." So I thought a compromise would be to indicate the stats alteration via Pokeblock colour preferences, instead of via nature. And introduce more natures into the game for cosmetic purposes, since it would no longer be limited by the 25 different permutations of stats changes.

Ability Tutor (suggested by InsaneStar7)
You have a favorite Pokémon in your party that you're very fond of. Your Pokemon's family line has two abilities, and the ability your Pokemon have now wasn't as useful as you thought and you wish for it to have the other one. Or that in Gen VI the Pokemon is given an alternative ability, and your Pokemon loses the opportunity to have that ability even if you transfer it over. You'll have to capture another of your favorite Pokémon or breed it to get it that, but you have to give up everything that your favorite Pokémon has (moves, ribbons, memories etc). An idea would be an ability tutor, where you make a payment of some sort in the form of an item to switch its ability, except that the item is much harder to obtain, such as available only via events, or once per season from and NPC.

Have the Pokewalker as a permanent feature for future main game. (suggested by The Wallflower)
The Pokewalker is a feature of the 4th generation Pokemon Heartgold/Soulsilver games. Basically, you can transfer a Pokemon in your game to this device, and interact with it. Walking around with the Pokewalker gives you currency to use either the Poke Radar to capture wild Pokemon (using a simpler battle system) or the Dousing Machine to find items. I would add on that the Pokewalker definitely has more room for improvement in areas such as graphics and features.

An easier, clearer communication and negotiation method on the GTS (suggested by EoTN)
The negotiation is slightly remedied on gen V, but text-based options in addition to pictures/icons should be made available as well to make your intentions clearer. Common words and simple phrases with its translated counterparts can be used to overcome language barriers.

More save file slots (suggested by Haunter227)
The title is pretty self explanatory in this case.

We should be able to mass release multiple pokemon at the same time. (suggested by Sabconth)
"Either by the boxload, or by picking a multiple range of our choice and then releasing them all in one go. For anyone who breeds, hunts for shinies or just hatches often, having to go down each line of pokemon, box by box and individually click through several different confirmation boxes just to release 1 at a time is the very definition of tedium." (Note: I'll add on that the overall PC interface can be improved further so that the Deposit/Withdraw option can be removed if Move can cover everything nicely, no more scrolling through the so many options to get the Move!)

Spoiler:- Non-supporter:

cantab: I'm gonna weigh in against mass release for two reasons. Firstly, mess-up potential. These are games played by young kids after all. Secondly, it goes way against the ever-recurring theme that we should love and care for Pokemon.

An extra two sub-slots for carrying Pokemon and egg for switching in and out during your trip (suggested by Moonlight_Tails)
Instead of carrying six Pokemon, you now carry six, plus an extra two sub-slots for switching outside of battle. Nothing else changes, you still have a maximum of 6v6 battle, you still lose if your first team of six faints. Essentially it helps out breeders with hundreds of eggs to breed (by a 40% boost in egg capacity), or for the typical trainer who has a few more Pokemon he wishes to train within a trip away from the Pokemon Centre.

HM moves can be readily deleted
The concept of field moves is great, but HM moves should be readily deletable like TM moves, such that you can "equip" and "unequip" them. It works even better in B/W since TM are multi-use; you can replace one of your main team member' TM move with a HM move for one of the caves, and later had it re-learn the first TM move. The meaning of 'HM move' would be better referred to as moves with field effects without the difficulty to replace component, and can include all cur field moves such as Teleport, Sweet Scent Dig etc. If GF could bring back every field move status of some moves such as Secret Power, Headbutt within a single game it'll be even better.

Signature moves (suggested by InsaneStar7)
Would be it cool if more individual Pokémon family have their own exclusive move to make it more special? Out of all 649 Pokémon, there's a total of 56 Pokémon (mostly legendaries) that has their own unique signature moves in the specific family. From previous generations, some Pokémon had their own interesting moves (Which sorta makes a signature move) where no other Pokémon can have it by leveling up or breeding. But when there's a new generation coming, some old and new Pokémon adopt the same moves. It is entirely possible to make an interesting sig. move based on information from their Pokédex entries that would fit their characteristics, anatomy, and/or fighting style. Another way is to utilise ideas already existing in the TCG games. The signature move can be a slight variation of existing moves, be it a status or offensive move, rendered better or worst in accuracy/power or comes with/without secondary effect. What matters is that the move is able to identify with the Pokemon using it.

Ice type moves weren't that common among water type Pokemon
Check out the list of ice type Pokemon, and most of them cannot learn offensive water moves unless they're ice/water type. Now check the list of Water type Pokemon, almost every single one of them can lean Ice Beam and Blizzard. Some Pokemon have really small move pools, but can we not have every single water type learn Ice Beam? Ice is a unique typing on its own, and not a subset of water type.

Spoiler:- Non-supporter:

11tjcoulombe: Ice moves should remain available to water Pokemon but not the other way round

Treat Flying type as a type on its own, with pure Flying types birds instead of Normal/Flying.
Flying type has its own set of moves, strengths and weaknesses just like any other types, yet when it comes to Pokemon, every bird that doesn't have another prominent characteristic is cursed with the Normal/Flying combination.Why not give Flying type its own batch of pure flying (Pidgeot, Fearow line), combination type (Skarmory, Honchkrow) and the occasional Normal/Flying for the ones that look like they're less likely to fly (Dodrio), much like any other type? Does Fighting type Pokemon need to throw their punches in the air every 3 seconds to show that they're 'pure fighting'?

Masquerain was bug/water like its pre-evolution, Skursit
Skursit is the only bug/water combination Pokemon until now. Much like how Venonat and Venomoth are bug/poison, Larvesta and Volcarona are bug/fire, why not keep Masquerain as the unique bug/water type? I know, I know, Masquerain is weak, no one remembers it, you're making it cry. Why would Game Freak add a brand new type combination only to revert it to one of the most common one we already have in game, I have no idea. Not to mention it's a fairly illogical evolution, even by bug standard. At least we can be hopeful about a new bug/water Pokemon in the future.

Spoiler:- Non-supporter:

Kacho: It's design and typing should be left up to Game Freaks, and it seems better justified as bug/flying.

Samurott was water/fighting instead of water
Not only has there been two pure water starter, but Samurott's design pretty much screams of a Samurai warrior.

The 5th gen Fire starter was anything but fire/fighting
Fire/dark, fire/ground, or just fire. Ignoring the fact that the current design of Emboar may not fit the typing you're hoping for, you feel that a fire/??? starter would have been better, and the starter design can be made to fit the typing. Or you're happy with the design afterall, and just wish for a different typing.

Regigigas's signature ability, Slow Start, lasted 3 turns instead of 5
It's a mechanism to limit Regigigas, halving its Attack and Speed for five turns. The whole concept of a Golem who has just woken up from slumber is interesting, but for 5 turns, I don't think it's going to be the most popular Regi among the Regis. Many other legendaries have equal or higher total stats of 680 without this setback.

The gym leaders should have been re-matchable
What I disliked of the 5th gen. was the lack of trainers to rematch. Unless it is the Elite 4, we have to wait a day in between for these strong trainers... Oh yeah and some on certain months!

You could turn off the road of justice.
Maybe its just be, but i think it would make the game less redundant. dont get me wrong, all pokemon games are great, but overall they all have the same story. It would be cool if you could join the bad group and actually be the first to beat the "hero."

Check out the list of ice type Pokemon, and most of them cannot learn offensive water moves unless they're ice/water type. Now check the list of Water type Pokemon, almost every single one of them can lean Ice Beam and Blizzard. Some Pokemon have really small move pools, but can we not have every single water type learn Ice Beam? Ice is a unique typing on its own, and not a subset of water type.

You could turn off the road of justice.
Maybe its just be, but i think it would make the game less redundant. dont get me wrong, all pokemon games are great, but overall they all have the same story. It would be cool if you could join the bad group and actually be the first to beat the "hero."

I would like to see that, but in terms of actual implementation, it's difficult even for me to type out in greater detail...

And water = melted ice. By that logic most ice pokemon should be able to learn water moves too. But I'm not talking about whether ice is a subset of water or the other way round, because in the game these are treated as unique types, and as such the move pools of one type shouldn't be overly abused by another.

If every ice pokemon starts learning water moves just to even things out, people can make some sense out of it as easily as you did. But I won't call it fair, I'll call it doubly silly.

One of my wants for these games is for rare Pokemon to actually freaking be RARE. In gen 1, the only redeeming quality to everything for me was that there was a large chance you wouldn't find all the Pokemon unless you looked really hard. Once I started finding Chanseys outside of the Safari Zone I called foul since there was no real challenge to finding or catching it. I guess I'd like to see smaller encounter rates for rare Pokemon and more difficult encounters, even if that means throwing all the rare monsters into the Safari Zone.

And water = melted ice. By that logic most ice pokemon should be able to learn water moves too. But I'm not talking about whether ice is a subset of water or the other way round, because in the game these are treated as unique types, and as such the move pools of one type shouldn't be overly abused by another.

If every ice pokemon starts learning water moves just to even things out, people can make some sense out of it as easily as you did. But I won't call it fair, I'll call it doubly silly.

The way I see it, Water types more or less have control over every aspect of Water itself, so chilling it to create an Ice type attack, such as Ice Beam, or heating it up, as with Scald, is easy enough for them to do. On the other hand, Ice types don't have control over Water, which means that they can only use their Ice Type moves by freezing surrounding moisture.

One of my wants for these games is for rare Pokemon to actually freaking be RARE. In gen 1, the only redeeming quality to everything for me was that there was a large chance you wouldn't find all the Pokemon unless you looked really hard. Once I started finding Chanseys outside of the Safari Zone I called foul since there was no real challenge to finding or catching it. I guess I'd like to see smaller encounter rates for rare Pokemon and more difficult encounters, even if that means throwing all the rare monsters into the Safari Zone.

In the first generation, you couldn't breed eggs, so rarity of certain Pokemon species was a really fun factor (Electabuzz and Magmar anyone?). Within the confines of Safari Zone, I would agree that certain Pokemon be always only available there. But what usually happens is that one Pokemon that is rare and only found in Safari Zone of one game may be readily available in the grass patch in another game, so I think an idea would be to have a list of Pokemon that is always in the Safari Zone-only list, as some form of savanna ecosystem. I'll expand the idea to have more of those Pokemon like Electabuzz and Magmar (in gen I) that are breed-able, but only available once in the game. Would that be a good idea?

Originally Posted by 11tjcoulombe

The way I see it, Water types more or less have control over every aspect of Water itself, so chilling it to create an Ice type attack, such as Ice Beam, or heating it up, as with Scald, is easy enough for them to do. On the other hand, Ice types don't have control over Water, which means that they can only use their Ice Type moves by freezing surrounding moisture.

If were to consider adding a list of user for and against an idea (or just a headcount without names), can I add you to that list? I'm not sure if you're justifying the current system in hindsight, or seriously standing up for the idea that ice should not be able to learn water moves whereas water can learn ice moves.

Masquerain was bug/water like its pre-evolution, Skursit
Skursit is the only bug/water combination Pokemon until now. Much like how Venonat and Venomoth are bug/poison, Larvesta and Volcarona are bug/fire, why not keep Masquerain as the unique bug/water type? I know, I know, Masquerain is weak, no one remembers it, you're making it cry.

look, pokemon started out in simple video game consoles that can probably only hold 2 pokemon typing.
because, if a pokemon has 3 typing, some pokemon can be overpowered by their resistance.

this is like beedrill can be bug/poison/flying. however, the developers and production management decided to keep the best, 2 most-describing typing for pokemons

now masquerain is the complicated one. while those species tend to flock on the water and have characteristic legs of bugs, they are chosen as bug/flying

however, you have to look at the characteristic of masquerain.
from bulbapedia, it is based on moths.
surskit, is based on water striders.
water striders are insects what dwells by interacting with water.

masquerain, kind of like yanma, one can argue that they both be water/bug.
but really, moth and dragonflies don't necessarily need a huge pond of water for living.

pretty much water-type pokemon needs a huge volume of water to live in.
so masquerain and yanma don't need as much water as surskit or your other pokemons

Originally Posted by Falconx03

That's absurd. Heated water doesn't always have to do with fire. Just because it burns which up until 4th Gen, only Fire could burn. Scald was to change things up from only fire types able to burn.

Will-o-Wisp can be used to burn other pokes. and it's rare among fire types. mostly ghost type, or it's breeding group.

Originally Posted by Hidden Power

Regigigas's signature ability, Slow Start, lasted 3 turns instead of 5
It's a mechanism to limit Regigigas, halving its Attack and Speed for five turns. The whole concept of a Golem who has just woken up from slumber is interesting, but for 5 turns, I don't think it's going to be the most popular Regi among the Regis. Many other legendaries have equal or higher total stats of 680 without this setback.

The point of the game franchise pokemon is strategy. Now, while I don't own 4th gen or 5th game. I am sure, if you're creative or ambitious to use that pokemon Regigigas, you will find strategic ways to use it to your advantage despite its, in your opinion, terrible ability.

Originally Posted by Hidden Power

Every trainer, including Gym Leaders, should be re-matchable (and kept that way for every single darn gen)
The phone in HGSS, PokeNav in RSE or the VS Seeker FRLG/DPPt, all share the similar function of allowing rematches, but each has its pros and cons. In essence, rematches should be allowed for every NPC trainer, without the need to always actively seek for them all the time (PokeNav), or the need to charge (VS seeker), or irritate the user (phone). Having both PokeNav and Phone function in the same game would be awesome. In the case of the phone function though, you should be able to choose to off it completely or block individual contacts, since you might want certain trainers to contact you (to give items), but not others (who sprout nonsense). Rematches from phone can give an extra small reward for winning, such as berries, pokeballs, and an occasional vitamin.

I think what you are looking for is "immediate" rematchability.
quite boring, is it?
sure, the VS seeker or Pokenav or phone can be annoying and take time, but their design has their points.

The way I am reading, you want to rely on in-game NPC to train your pokes, right? However, remember that there are non-hardcore, or casual, players who play pokemon. While the rematch system allows replayability for casual player, it allows some degree of hardcore gaming for serious palyers.
What Gamefreak did was the balance of the two, and I see nothing wrong with that.

Also, the rewards for winning rematches makes no sense. In the pokemon world, the most logical thing is giving currencies. And that makes sense because in a way, trainers are betting their pokemon against another pokemon. (reminds me of horse racing, or beetle fighting.) Nobody needs to voluntarily give up their goods for losing. Pokemon battling is like a sport, not war. Losers don't have to give up their entire wallet for losing.

Actually, because Scald was added to change the fact that only fire pokemon have access to moves that induces burn, the fact that Emboar could learn it was all the more oxymoronic. Like-wise, Will-o-wisp's name suggested ghostly/mythical fire. Which is why it's mainly in the movepool of ghost pokemon and vulpix/ninetales (folklore fox spirit)

Every Fire type can learn Will-O-Wisp since its introduction as a TM. And you know for a fact that Scald was added because only Fire moves could burn? (discounting Tri-Attack, and Freeze Burn.) More likely, it was just added to give a medium powered special water move (there really weren't any, except I guess Water Pulse)

look, pokemon started out in simple video game consoles that can probably only hold 2 pokemon typing.
because, if a pokemon has 3 typing, some pokemon can be overpowered by their resistance.

this is like beedrill can be bug/poison/flying. however, the developers and production management decided to keep the best, 2 most-describing typing for pokemons

now masquerain is the complicated one. while those species tend to flock on the water and have characteristic legs of bugs, they are chosen as bug/flying

however, you have to look at the characteristic of masquerain.
from bulbapedia, it is based on moths.
surskit, is based on water striders.
water striders are insects what dwells by interacting with water.

masquerain, kind of like yanma, one can argue that they both be water/bug.
but really, moth and dragonflies don't necessarily need a huge pond of water for living.

pretty much water-type pokemon needs a huge volume of water to live in.
so masquerain and yanma don't need as much water as surskit or your other pokemons

Will-o-Wisp can be used to burn other pokes. and it's rare among fire types. mostly ghost type, or it's breeding group.

The point of the game franchise pokemon is strategy. Now, while I don't own 4th gen or 5th game. I am sure, if you're creative or ambitious to use that pokemon Regigigas, you will find strategic ways to use it to your advantage despite its, in your opinion, terrible ability.

I think what you are looking for is "immediate" rematchability.
quite boring, is it?
sure, the VS seeker or Pokenav or phone can be annoying and take time, but their design has their points.

The way I am reading, you want to rely on in-game NPC to train your pokes, right? However, remember that there are non-hardcore, or casual, players who play pokemon. While the rematch system allows replayability for casual player, it allows some degree of hardcore gaming for serious palyers.
What Gamefreak did was the balance of the two, and I see nothing wrong with that.

Also, the rewards for winning rematches makes no sense. In the pokemon world, the most logical thing is giving currencies. And that makes sense because in a way, trainers are betting their pokemon against another pokemon. (reminds me of horse racing, or beetle fighting.) Nobody needs to voluntarily give up their goods for losing. Pokemon battling is like a sport, not war. Losers don't have to give up their entire wallet for losing.

My reasoning for Masquerain was that since you're going to come up with a bug/water pre-evolution, why get rid of it in favour of a more common typing, much less with a pretty weak bug Pokemon? It's in essence removing every single redeeming uniqueness the Pokemon could have despite it's rather lackluster stats. And with reference the the blue section of my first post, you probably want to explain how this change adversely affects your gameplay, as opposed to saying that GF said so, so it is so. Otherwise this discussion wouldn't serve its purpose.

I guess you didn't know that in Gen 5, rematches were available in one of the cities with a specific few trainers daily, and one of them gives you an item when you win. Like-wise, Poke Rangers give you a berry for winning. It's not something that hasn't been done before, but because you didn't know that, you assume that GF won't do it because it makes no sense. Tada! I have the advantage of hindsight in this debate

Regigigas was different in that it had the stats and status of a typical legendary Pokemon, but suffers a heavy drawback to fit a theme. Even without this ability, Regigigas won't be considered overpowered since legendaries are automatically overpowered to begin with. While I like the whole theme of the ability, a 5 turn wait that resets when you withdraw the Pokemon is too much even for a Pokemon with a base stats of 680. It's halving of Attack from 160 to 80 makes it a slightly below average Pokemon, fair enough, but having its Speed go from 100 to 50 prevents it from attacking first in most battles.

Phone, PokeNav and VS Seeker (and the 5th gen Big Stadium/Small Court) all prevent immediate rematches again and again, in one way or another, if you're not aware. You can't stay in one trainer spot and keep activating the PokeNav to get them to rebattle you within a short period of time. VS Seeker attempts to quantify the waiting via charging steps, and the Phone is more random. I'm saying that with respect to Phone and PokeNav, both can be made available so that people who prefers either can sitck to it, without the cons of lacking the option to do so altogether.

How would that be any different than just using a PC? Bar the battles in the E4, you can stop at a PC, and switch out any pokemon you want whenever you want. It would be entirely redundant to be able to carry eight pokemon, when you can only use six, when in fact, it's pretty much the same idea as the PC, except you have a much wider selection.

Torchic and it's uses were severely flawed in the third generation. It's a fire fighting which learns only two fighting moves throughout it's evolutions and at levels inconvenient for the two gyms where they are needed.
Double kick comes during the Cumbuskin stage at I believe around level 2-something thus taking too long to be used against Roxy, the first gym leader who uses the rock type. Unless one wants to hang around training for her gym for that long rather than making the faster and more practical decision to just use a shroomish.
Then Blaze kick is learned in the Blaziken stage at level 54 I believe, too late once again as you reach Norman with his normal types around 20 levels prior to that point.
On top of that, the games have NO fire type advantage gyms. It isn't until the elite four when fire will have any real use as pretty much every one of them except Steven has a weakness to it.

In the fourth generation, they needed to keep the contests as they were in the third. The dancing and dress up stuff is horrible and pointless.

I also think it would have been awesome if Mewtwo talked in the first generation and their remakes as he did in the anime.
TMs needed to be unlimited use and Flash removed as an HM long before the current, fifth generation. Flash was always so useless as an HM, I can't remember the last time I used it in any game.

Torchic and it's uses were severely flawed in the third generation. It's a fire fighting which learns only two fighting moves throughout it's evolutions and at levels inconvenient for the two gyms where they are needed.
Double kick comes during the Cumbuskin stage at I believe around level 2-something thus taking too long to be used against Roxy, the first gym leader who uses the rock type. Unless one wants to hang around training for her gym for that long rather than making the faster and more practical decision to just use a shroomish.
Then Blaze kick is learned in the Blaziken stage at level 54 I believe, too late once again as you reach Norman with his normal types around 20 levels prior to that point.
On top of that, the games have NO fire type advantage gyms. It isn't until the elite four when fire will have any real use as pretty much every one of them except Steven has a weakness to it.

In the fourth generation, they needed to keep the contests as they were in the third. The dancing and dress up stuff is horrible and pointless.

I also think it would have been awesome if Mewtwo talked in the first generation and their remakes as he did in the anime.
TMs needed to be unlimited use and Flash removed as an HM long before the current, fifth generation. Flash was always so useless as an HM, I can't remember the last time I used it in any game.

Erm, some of the things you mentioned were already fixed by 5th gen. I might list the contest thingy in the first post, but I'm not getting your point with respect to torchic, and the TMs/HMs.

Originally Posted by Moonlight_Tails

you could swap them around at any time without going to a pc and you would get to choose from the 8 in battle but no more than 6

I would think that it makes the game too easy. And the game IS already too easy for me. The whole point of a party of 6, and going to and fro PC is so that you don't have too easy of a trip in between cities. 6 Pokemon have a pretty good coverage of weakness and strengths, so I don't see why the extra 2 Pokemon for switching in and out is for.

Why do you exactly want this feature, is the game too difficult for you?

Torchic and it's uses were severely flawed in the third generation. It's a fire fighting which learns only two fighting moves throughout it's evolutions and at levels inconvenient for the two gyms where they are needed.
Double kick comes during the Cumbuskin stage at I believe around level 2-something thus taking too long to be used against Roxy, the first gym leader who uses the rock type. Unless one wants to hang around training for her gym for that long rather than making the faster and more practical decision to just use a shroomish.
Then Blaze kick is learned in the Blaziken stage at level 54 I believe, too late once again as you reach Norman with his normal types around 20 levels prior to that point.
On top of that, the games have NO fire type advantage gyms. It isn't until the elite four when fire will have any real use as pretty much every one of them except Steven has a weakness to it.

Combusken learns Double Kick at level 16, and you shouldn't have any problems getting Torchic to level 16 by the time you battle Roxanne. As for beating Norman, if you had a hard time beating him with a Combusken / Blaziken, then... wow. It learns Bulk Up by itself at level 28, and it's easy enough to set up whilst battling him. Also, Blaze Kick is a Fire type move, and it learns it level 36, not 54...

No, I just find it inconvenient having to switch out one of my team when I'm trying to hatch an egg or raise a lower level pokemon.

Solving your inconvenience issue would make many players unhappy over the increased ease of the game. To you it means less trip to the PC, to everyone else it means switching in a fainted Pokemon for a fully healed one on Victory Road or something easily abusable. And if you're talking about an extra 2 slots then comes the debate of why 2, why not 3, why not all?

You would think that by today's technological advancement you shouldn't even have to go to the Pokemon Centre; the PC could be available in your palm. But since that dilutes the difficulty of the game by a mile, I don't think GF would do it, nor do I think many would agree with this idea. I certainly don't, not when the stakes to solve a convenience issue is too high.